Uddhav Thackeray faction moves SC against Speaker’s ruling in Shiv Sena dispute

New Delhi: The Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday, challenging the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker’s order recognising Eknath Shinde’s bloc as the “real political party” following the party’s split in June 2022.

Speaker Rahul Narwekar’s January 10 ruling not only declared Shinde’s faction the legitimate Shiv Sena but also rejected the Thackeray faction’s petition to disqualify 16 Shinde-camp MLAs, including the Chief Minister himself.

This decision consolidated Shinde’s position as Chief Minister, bolstering his political clout within the ruling coalition (BJP, NCP) ahead of crucial elections in 2024. The Speaker based his ruling on the principle that party leadership cannot utilise anti-defection laws to stifle internal dissent.

Narwekar reasoned that Shinde’s faction commanded the support of 37 of the 54 Sena MLAs at the time of the split, granting them legitimacy. Furthermore, the Election Commission’s early 2023 decision awarded the ‘Shiv Sena’ name and symbol to the Shinde group.

Regarding disqualification petitions against MLAs from both factions, Narwekar determined that Sunil Prabhu (Thackeray faction) lost his whip position upon the split, while Bharat Gogawale (Shinde faction) became the authorised whip. Consequently, “All petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected.

No MLA is being disqualified,” announced the Speaker.

Narwekar further ruled that the “Shiv Sena pramukh” (chief) lacked the power to unilaterally remove party leaders. He rejected the argument that the “will of the party chief” and the “will of the party” were interchangeable. Notably, he deemed the 1999 party constitution, not the 2018 amendment, as the governing document for resolving legal disputes, dismissing the Thackeray faction’s reliance on the latter.